Mark Cocker
Finding Wonder in the Living World
Tag: nature
Mimicry Among Derbyshire Redstarts
This month (Nov 2026) British Wildlife publish my paper on mimicry among Derbyshire common redstarts. This recording is from Monyash on 10 May 2025 and is featured in the piece. I reproduce the full recording here and attach the notes below which enable the… Continue Reading “Mimicry Among Derbyshire Redstarts”
song of stone
Last week a brilliant young naturalist found one of the few wood warblers to be recorded in our area. I wrote a Guardian diary for 7 July. However I thought you might like to hear what that bird sounded like, so here are 30… Continue Reading “song of stone”
Christmas Books 2025
We’re constantly being told about the new-tech that will change our world. No technology has been more transformative across the whole of my life than the one developed in 1455: the good old printed book. I’ve read something like 47 in 2025 and in… Continue Reading “Christmas Books 2025”
Shieldbugs & Ponds, Pools and Puddles: UNOFFICIAL BOOKCLUB NO 12
Shieldbugs by Richard Jones, New Naturalist 147, Collins, £65, pbk £35 Ponds, Pools and Puddles Jeremy Biggs and Penny Williams, New Naturalist 148,, Collins, £65, pbk £35. This is a long overdue piece on the last two in the New Naturalist series, which is,… Continue Reading “Shieldbugs & Ponds, Pools and Puddles: UNOFFICIAL BOOKCLUB NO 12”
The Complete Insect: UNOFFICIAL BOOKCLUB NO 11
The Complete Insect: Anatomy, Physiology, Evolution and Ecology, David Grimaldi (ed), Princeton University Press, £30. If humanity is to shift up a gear in creating a sustainable civilisation, and thereby increase its own chances of survival, while safeguarding the rest of life on our… Continue Reading “The Complete Insect: UNOFFICIAL BOOKCLUB NO 11”
Bohemian Waxwing: Europe’s bird-of-paradise
My winter has been crowned by a visitation of waxwings to Derbyshire that includes a congregation on the Monsal Trail near Bakewell of c360 birds, among the largest flocks ever recorded in the county. I have waited half a century to see even a… Continue Reading “Bohemian Waxwing: Europe’s bird-of-paradise”
Volunteers ’23
In 2022 I remember how a major wildlife charity published with great fanfare a list of its favourite celebrities. Celebrities? I was …. unimpressed. With very few, notable exceptions, celebrities are to action-for-nature what bush tucker (off that god-awful tv programme) is to nature-connectedness.… Continue Reading “Volunteers ’23”
